Sue Blackman, Commission Secretary said that since the
President and Vice-President of the Commission had resigned and new officers
were not elected at the previous meeting, the Commissioners would need to elect
one of their peers to preside over the meeting.

Motion:† By Commissioner Del Portillo, seconded by Commissioner Munson to
nominate Commissioner Munson to preside over the meeting until the election of
officers.

Public Comment

An anonymous citizen said the agenda should have made it clear
that this item was to elect a presiding officer only until the election of
officers.

Peter Warfield said he agrees that the presiding officer
should preside only until the election of officers.

Commission Discussion

None.

Action:† AYES 6-0: (Del Portillo, Gomez, Harris, Kane, Lee and Munson) to elect
Commissioner Munson to preside over the meeting until the election of officers.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 2 PUBLIC COMMENT

An anonymous citizen said at the last meeting the Commission
was told that San Francisco was 7th on a list of most literate US cities.† He said that this is a collection of six criteria and that San Francisco was 17th
in the library category, down from 14th the year before.† He said a
great amount of energy is used to prevent the Commissioners from obtaining this
type of information.

Peter Warfield said in December there was a discussion at
the Commission relating to fines and fees and charges at the Library.† He said
one of the fees related to the Link+ program and the fact that it is charging
an extraordinarily high flat rate for lost and damaged materials.† He said the
discussion on this issue was to be brought back to the Commission.† He said he
wanted to remind the Commission that this needs to be brought back to be
discussed because of the impact of these fees on poor people and the barrier to
access.

Ellen Egbert, Bernal Heights, said the Bernal Heights branch will have its closing party on Saturday and the Eureka Valley branch will have
its closing party on March 1.† She said it would be a good idea for the
Commissioners to see the existing branches before they close if possible.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 3 ELECTION OF COMMISSION OFFICERS FOR
2008

Motion:† By Commissioner Kane seconded by Commissioner Harris to nominate
Commissioner Gomez as President and Commissioner Munson as Vice-President.

Public Comment

An anonymous citizen said the Commission should call for
public comment prior to closing nominations.† He said it was not necessary to
have a President and Vice President from the prior sitting Commission.† He said
it would be nice to have one of the new Commissioners so that the Commission
could break from the practices of the past and start afresh.

†

Peter Warfield said he would like to see the new members
considered as officers.† He said the Sunshine Ordinance has been extremely
important and there have been many challenges and many of them successful with
regard to violations of the Sunshine Ordinance by the Library and the
Commission itself.† He said he would urge that the Commission consider someone
familiar with the Sunshine Ordinanceís requirements and that Commissioner Kane
seems particular sensitive to the requirement that there be public comment.

Donna Bero, Friends of the Library, said she wanted to commend the Commission on
the nominations before the Commission and said that she thinks Commissioner
Gomez will make a quite eloquent and visionary leader for this group.† She said
she welcomed the three new Commissioners as well.

Commission Discussion

Presiding Officer Munson asked the Commission if there were
other nominations.† He said seeing none he asked for a vote on the motion.

Donna Bero, Friends of the Library, thanked Charles Higueras for his leadership
and dedication to quality for the Branch Library Improvement Program; she
thanked Steve Coulter for his wonderful context and historical perspective that
he gave the Commission and she thanked Helen Marte Bautista for her enthusiasm
and commitment to equity and outreach.† She commended all three of them for
their personal sacrifice and commitment to the Library and the Commission.

Peter Warfield said he was glad this was on the agenda and
he said over the years, whether or not he agreed with these Commissioners on
every issue he said he certainly supports the Commission approving these
resolutions recognizing, honoring and commending Charles Higueras, Steve
Coulter and Helen Marte Bautista for their long service on the Commission.

Helen Marte Bautista said she congratulated the new
Commission members and wished them well.† She said she has been nominated as
First Vice-President, President-elect of the American Library Trustees
Association and her experience with the Commission has given her an opportunity
to serve on a national board.

Charles Higueras thanked Library staff and the Commission
for this acknowledgment.† He said congratulations to the new Commissioners.† He
said his 12 years on the Commission were very enjoyable and he was gratified by
the experience.† He said in every year he grew in his respect for the
institution.† He said he takes great pride in taking part in the Branch Library
Improvement Program.† He said this particular Commission is very much about
getting on the same page.† He said at the end of the day the Library is of
critical importance to so many people in this city, so he said there is no room
for alternative agendas or conflicting opinions.† He said there is an enormous
opportunity for the library to move forward.

Sue Cauthen, Chair Library Citizens Advisory Committee
(LCAC), thanked the former Commissioners for working with the LCAC.† She also
welcomed all of the new Commissioners and said she looks forward to a wonderful
year.

An anonymous citizen said a little controversy can be good
and he wished the former Commissioners good luck in the future.†††† †

Commission Discussion

Commissioner Del Portillo expressed her personal thanks and
noted the pride of the Latino community for Charles Higueras and his service.† She
said she is always amazed at Steve Coulterís kindness and intelligence and she
said she was sorry he was not in attendance at the meeting.† She said thank you
to Helen Bautista and she said she looks forward to continue to work with her
on other issues.†

Commissioner Munson said he was very impressed with the work
of Charles Higueras over the 12 year period he was Commissioner and Steve
Coulter who has many more years on the Commission and said he tried to be fair
and keep the goals of the Commission in mind.† He said Helen Bautista is such a
delight.† He said it has been a pleasure serving with all three of these
Commissioners.

Commissioner Kane said thank you to the Commissioners for
their leadership and he said this Library is in a position today that would not
be possible without their long service.

Luis Herrera, City Librarian, thanked the former Commissioners for all
of their support

President Gomez said she would like to move items 5 and 6
approval of the minutes of January 3 and January 17 to the end of the meeting
so that members of the community would be able to participate in the following
items.

7.† DESIGN OPTIONS FOR BAYVIEW BRANCH LIBRARY

Luis Herrera, City Librarian, explained the background on the Bayview
Branch and said that this branch is critical to the community and provides an
active outreach and special programs component.† He said that the budget for
this branch was increased from $3.6 million to $9.8 million in March 2007.

Marilyn Thompson, Bond Program Manager, said that the Bayview Branch library deserved a new expanded vision and with the passage of Prop D they began feasibility
studies with the firm of Thomas Hacker Architects, a nationally renowned design
architect in association with a local firm Karin Payson architecture + design.†
She said presenting a range of design options today is Kacey Jurgens, Principal
Architect for Thomas Hacker.† She said Karin Payson is also in the audience.†
She said this is the same design team that completed the successful renovation
of the West Portal branch library.

Kacey Jurgens said this project is in the predesign stage.†
She said they are looking at four different options for the site and explained
each floor plan option. †She also showed photographs of the existing site and
the existing floor plan.† She said the existing building presents a lot of
challenges for expansion.† She said a new building on the site would present a
lot more flexibility in design. She said the preferred options are Option B a
two-story building on the existing site or Option D a one-story building with
the acquisition of the adjacent property.

Luis Herrera, City Librarian said the staff has had very good
discussions with the architectural team and said they agreed that Options B and
D were the preferred options.† He said staff would like the Commission to
narrow it down to those two options.† He said they would continue to meet with
the community and to get more cost estimates for the two options.

Public Comment

An anonymous citizen said it would be nice if the public
could use PowerPoint presentations as well.† He said he was concerned with
changing the order of the agenda and that he was concerned that the item on the
agenda did not include a description of the design options and that it might
include a totally new building.† He said two of the options before the
Commission are to destroy the current building.† He said the name of the branch
is the Bayview/Anna E. Waden branch library. †He said one of the options
includes a basement plan and that is a concern.† He said there is no square
footage or book capacity listed for the options.

Chris Buck, Citizens Advisory Committee to the Redevelopment
Agency for Bayview/Hunters Point Project Area Committee (PAC), said he was not
speaking on behalf of the PAC but he is the Chair of the Education Committee
for the PAC.† He said he would like the Commission to think big for this
library.† He said there are huge opportunities for this community.† He said
having as many services as possible in this neighborhood would help with some
of the crime and other issues in the area.† He said there are other projects
planned for the area and he would suggest contacting leaders in the community.†
He said he prefers Option D but Option B would be acceptable.

Cathy Bremer, representing Labor Union SEIU 1021, said the
existing building needs to be torn down.† She said it is an ugly and insulting
building.† She said the branch does not get used as much as it should because
it is not an inviting building.† She said to think big and go with Option D.

Ruth Gravitt said she lives in the area and is a voracious
reader and she said staff is always marvelous at the branch.† She said she
would like the bond money spent on the most comfortable and attractive facility
possible and she thinks only a new library would provide that.

James Greenblat said he grew up in Ingleside utilizing the
Ingleside branch.† He said if they could purchase property to upgrade that
facility the same could be done for this branch.† He said he agreed with
Options B and D.

Peter Warfield said it seems there is some material
missing.† He said the things missing in the options were the numbers of books
and book capacity.† He asked what the book capacity would be under each
option.† He asked about the reference desks, meeting rooms, etc.† He said that
should be a key element.† He said there was no budget amount for each of the
options.† He said while Prop D was passed in November and it set up a mechanism
under which bonds could be approved by the Supervisors and Mayor if the
Commission recommended it, no such action has been taken and there are supposed
to be restrictions on the availability of bond repayment funding. †He said he
would like to make sure funding is available.

Toni Bernardi, Chief of Children and Youth Services, read a statement on
behalf of the Jumpstart Western Regional Office and the Department of Children,
Youth and their Familiesí Early Literacy Initiative in support of the Bayview
library. †Speaking for herself she said that the children of any community as
well as the adults deserve a building that they can enter into with joy and
excitement.

Noelle Hanrahan said she lives in Bayview/Hunter Point.† She
said she goes to the library with her children every week.† She said the
librarians there are amazing.††† She said she is excited about the new building
but she is concerned that there will be a period of time without a physical
library in the community.† She said it is important especially for this
community that they have an actual library building during the time the new
library is being built.†

Miriam Pavis said she has been a resident of the Bayview
area since 1948.† She said she supports demolishing the existing building and building
a new one.† She said the community needs more meetings on this, but that she
thinks Option D is the best.

Larry Ware, Neighborhood Council and the founder of the
poetry program, said he had lived in the area since 1957 and is a native son.†
He said Bayview needs a new library and he recited a poem to show what the
neighborhood and community means to him.†

Walter Johnson said he was an 18 year resident of
Bayview/Hunters Point and said he was a retired probation officer so he knows
what happens when kids go astray.† He said the community is being revitalized
and it does need a new library.† He said he supports Option D and likes the
idea of having the library on one floor.† He gave praise to Linda Brooks Burton
and the staff at Bayview.

Rhonda, a Bayview resident, said that the staff does a
fantastic job.† She said she supports Option D.† She said she supports making
the library a green building and supports a temporary building while the new
facility is being built.

Linda Brooks-Burton, Manager of the Bayview branch, said her
staff is excited about the possibility of a brand new building and the
possibility of expanding into the adjacent building site.† She said the
existing building has many challenges including poor ventilation, plumbing,
lighting, work space and public restrooms.† She said if it could be a green
building that would be great.††† She said community meetings will be very
important and she said she supports Option D.

Commission Discussion

Commissioner Kane said the Commission occasionally has
meetings at the branch libraries.† †He said the Commission had a meeting at the
Bayview branch and it is a truly wonderful community and active branch.† He
said his understanding was the action before the Commission today was to give
direction to the staff on the options before them.† He said this community has
many at risk kids and is far from downtown.† He said he supports Option D but
says he knows the budget will need to be considered.† He said he would like to
have an Option E which would be to look at other properties in the area.† He
said he would like the library to look at Options B and D as well as looking at
the possibility of other properties in the area.

Commissioner Del Portillo thanked the chair for moving this
item up on the agenda so that members of the public could be heard.† She said
the options are a rough design.† She said the issue seems to be whether to keep
the existing building and remodel it or to demolish it and build a new building
on the site.† She said we should think big for this community.† She said we
need to think beyond what is planned.† She said possibly there could be the
library on the ground floor and perhaps commercial or offices on the second
floor.†

Commissioner Lee said hearing the public comment was very
informative.† He said the budget was increased from $3.6 million to $9.8
million and asked when that increase occurred.

Luis Herrera, City Librarian said the initial budget of $3.6 million was
in 2000 and it was increased in March 2007 to $9.8 million.

Jill Bourne, Deputy City Librarian said normally the staff does not bring the
predesign phase to the Commission.† It was brought in this case because of the
possibility of acquiring the adjacent space.

Kacey Jurgens, architect, spoke regarding the issues that
were looked at in the predesign including programming space.

Luis Herrera, City Librarian said the square footage would be between
8500 and 10,500, which would be comparable to the larger branches in the BLIP.

Commissioner Lee said ideally he likes Option D if you can
acquire the adjacent property. †††

Commissioner Munson said he likes the idea of looking at
alternative locations as well.

Luis Herrera said we are thinking big for this branch.† He said the staff
would like to narrow this down to two options so that we can be realistic about
the budget.† He said staff will look at other locations but not to the extent
it would cause delays in the project.† He said this site meets the needs of the
community.

Commissioner Lee said he was concerned about the budget for
this project and the negotiations with the adjacent property owner.

Commissioner Harris said we want this to be the best
possible library and he said it looks like we are on moving in the right
direction.

Jill Bourne, Deputy City Librarian, said that the building
will be built to the LEED Silver standard.

MOTION: by Commissioner Kane, seconded by Commissioner Del Portillo to direct
staff to continue working on Options B and D as presented today along with a
parallel option of possibly purchasing and developing an alternate property for
the building.

Maureen Singleton, Budget Manager, said that there have been
minor clerical edits to the handouts and that the copies had been provided to
the Commission and additional copies were in the back for the public.† She said
the final proposed FY 08-09 budget totals $81,650,197, which includes an
operating budget of $79,580,197, a capital project program of $70,000 and an
advance of the Visitacion Valley Impact Fees of $2,000,000 for the Branch
Library Improvement Program.† She went over the breakdown of the budget and
explained some of the highlights of the budget.† She said the next steps are
the submission of the budget to the Controllerís Office by February 21, 2008
and submission of the budget to the Mayorís Office by March 1, 2008.

Luis Herrera said there is another revision which came in
late so it is not part of the packets.† He said after a discussion with the new
Superintendent of Schools it is clear that in order to insure that we have
staff to go out for training with students and teachers; we are proposing to
add a student support specialist position.† He said it would be approximately
$89,000 to add this Librarian II position.

Public Comment

An anonymous citizen said the slides were informative and it
would be nice if the public were allowed to use them.† He said the reserve has
been differentiated into two sections.† He said there is a fund reserve and a
cash reserve.† He said he supposes that the Library is proposing to spend the
cash reserve.† He said there is no specificity about what the $3.99 million is
going to be spent on.† He said there is $12.5 million carried forward that does
not include the $3.99 million.† He said there is a $2 million transfer from the
operating budget from the Library Preservation Fund to the BLIP, but it is
called an advance, so he asked what was going to happen with that money.

Peter Warfield said it looks like a very healthy increase in
the book budget and he is glad to see that.† He said it would be helpful to see
how much of this budget is going to increased hours since this is a priority.†
He said there is a line item for $21,000 for Link+ courier services.† He said
this does not reflect all of the costs related to Link+.† He said in December
there had been a report on Link+ and he would like to see money in the budget
to reduce the costs to patrons of lost or damaged books in the program.

Cathy Bremer, representing SEIU Union 1021 Library workers,
said last month they had brought up budget change proposal number 12 and said
that the union did not like the language in that.† She said she is happy to see
that the budget has changed so that $100,000 is no longer in the budget for
subcontracting out to do some of the cataloging and that the staff will be
looking at ways to do this in house.

Sue Cauthen, Library Citizens Advisory Committee (LCAC),
said the LCAC did talk about Link+ at their last meeting and she said they were
told the total cost of the program is $30,000.† She said LCAC is concerned
about the fines for lost or damaged books in the program.†

Commission Discussion

Commissioner Del Portillo said she is glad that the union
representative was able to work with the City Librarian to resolve the
contracting out issue.† She said the budget process is going to be difficult
and she hopes that we will come together and support the proposed budget to the
Mayor and Board of Supervisors.

Commissioner Kane said the Library is lucky to have the
Library Preservation Fund.† He said the book budget is very healthy.† He asked
about the expanded hours and how many branches will still only be open five
days.

Jill Bourne, Deputy City Librarian, said that with this
proposed budget there will be only four remaining branches that are only open
five days and three of those will be closing for renovations this fiscal year.†

Commissioner Kane asked what we could do to have that one
remaining five day branch open six days.

Luis Herrera, City Librarian, said staff will look into that
request.

MOTION: by Commissioner Del Portillo, seconded by Commissioner Munson, to approve
the proposed budget as presented and to explore the feasibility of adding an
additional day at the Golden Gate Valley branch so that it is open six days a
week.

AYES: 6-0 (Del Portillo, Gomez, Harris, Kane, Lee and Munson).

AGENDA ITEM NO. 9 CITY LIBRARIANíS REPORT

Luis Herrera, City Librarian said in commemoration of Black
History Month we have an update on the African American Center, which the
library is very proud of.

Stewart Shaw, African American Center Librarian, gave an
update on programs and exhibits in 2007.† He said he had the opportunity to
work with the Museum of African Diaspora (MOAD) and the Treasure Island
Homeless Development Initiative as part of the Centerís outreach.† He said
there were 22 programs and 6 exhibits last year.† He said there are many exhibits
and programs including reading programs in the upcoming year.

Luis Herrera said the next item he wanted to report on was
the Benefit Study of the SFPL which was done in conjunction with the Friends of
the San Francisco Public Library.

Donna Bero, Friends of the Library, gave the executive
summary of the study, which was done by Berk & Associates, a national
research firm.†† She said the study was done in response to a city-wide forum
on the role and relevance of the library to the community.† She said the report
describes and, when possible, quantifies the value which the library system
provides to the San Francisco community.†† She said the report found that San Francisco does three things amazingly well including education, immigrant services and
support for the economic health of the city.† She said for every dollar that
the city puts into the public library system more than three dollars worth of
value comes out.† She explained a graph that was prepared for the study that
shows the qualitative and quantifiable benefits.†

Luis Herrera, City Librarian, said the study is an amazing
tool for both the local and national level to promote what the library does.†
He said he has been appointed to the California Council for the Humanities
(CCH) and his role will be to talk about libraries in the context of CCHís role
as the leading provider of humanities programming for the general public in California.

Kathy Lawhun, Chief of Main, described the Customer
Satisfaction Survey, which is available on the Libraryís website.† She
explained how the survey works and the types of questions on the survey.† She
said they will report back to the Commission on the results.† She said it will
help with benchmarking as well.

Public Comment

An anonymous citizen said he was shocked that we didnít hear
about the opening of the Western Addition branch.† He said the highlights about
the African American center were very interesting.† He said he was shocked
about a finished report on the benefits study.† He said policies of the Friends
and Foundation are that books are an outmoded technology and that the library
should be a source for party rentals, fees for service, RFID, etc.† He said the
reason this is a public institution is that the public can express its will.

Peter Warfield said he is very concerned that there is a
major study and the public does not have a copy of the executive study nor the
full report.† He said he requests a copy of these items and he thinks it would
be appropriate to have these available to the public well in advance.† He said
he hasnít seen the Commission discuss the objectives and goals which were part
of the study.† He said the Library Satisfaction Survey in the past was based on
the fill rate.† He said the Commission has not discussed the current survey.

Commission Discussion

Commissioner Del Portillo asked for a copy of the full
report and the executive summary of the Berk benefit study.†

Commissioner Kane asked whether the Library Satisfaction
Survey replaces the traditional paper survey which has been done in the past
and if the questions are similar to the ones in the past.

Kathy Lawhun, Chief of Main, said that the survey will be
produced in paper twice a year.† She said it will also be available in Chinese,
Spanish and Russian.

Commissioner Kane clarified that the Commission will still
get an annual report on the results of the survey.†

AGENDA ITEM NO. 10 FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY REPORT

Donna Bero, Friends of the Library, said the Friends wanted
to commend everyone involved in the opening of the Western Addition Branch.†
She said the Bernal Heights closing party will be Saturday, February 9; the
Ingleside groundbreaking will be on Friday, February 15, the closing party for
the Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial will be on Saturday March 1 and the Noe
Valley/Sally Brunn branch reopening is on Saturday March 8.† She encouraged
everyone to attend and said they are great community festivals.† She said
Friends are also working on Poets Eleven, and a series on foreign language
poetry readings.

Public Comment

An anonymous citizen said there hasnít been anything about
the Public Comment Fund in a while.† He said from 1978 Ė 1992 he published a
newsletter on library affairs.† He said essays from his newsletter have been
selected by an anthology of the best of alternative library literature four
times.† He said people who have read that have thought that San Francisco is so
lucky to have a debate.† He said they do not know that his comments are
dismissed because he does not agree with the Friends.†

Commission Discussion

President Gomez said that the public comment fund was
started by a member of the public not by the Friends.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 11 LABOR UNION REPORT

There was no labor union report.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 5 APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES JANUARY 3,
2008

Public Comment

An anonymous citizen said these minutes are not too bad but
there are a few grammatical errors.† He said on the first page he talked about
the institutional memory and he said the reason he talked about that was
completely left out of the minutes.

Peter Warfield said these are very good minutes but he
wanted to be very clear on what he had said with regard to the Link+ fee. He
said his comments on page 2 relating to approval of the December 6 minutes were
not clear that he was referring to the high fees for the Link+ program.

An anonymous citizen said these minutes are much more
problematic probably because there are much more controversial subjects.† He
said on page seven the anonymous citizen had made two significant points about
the Fuhrman Fund that were not clearly noted.† He said on page one the point he
made about the reason why the presiding officer needs to be a continuing member
and why the elected President could be a newly appointed member was not
clarified.

Peter Warfield said that it is important and valuable to
have good minutes so he said he would urge the Commission to consider seriously
all of the public comments made at the meetings.† He said on page 7 he was
talking about a major discrepancy in the cost for the first floor renovation.†
He said the question he was asking was whether the new cost reported was
accurate and if so that was a large discrepancy.

Commissioner Del Portillo said she would like the Commission
to discuss at another meeting having a specific item on the agenda for
Commissioner reports. ††She said she thought staff and the public would like to
hear the things the different Commissioners are involved in.† She also invited
everyone to the opening of the new City College Mission Campus on February 20.

Public Comment

An anonymous citizen said that Commissioner reports would be
helpful and said this would be justification for a committee structure.† He
said it would be helpful to hear what the Commissioners are doing.

Peter Warfield said he thought the suggestion to have
Commissioner reports on the agenda was a good one.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 13. ADJOURNMENT

Public Comment

There was no public comment on this item.

MOTION: by Commissioner Munson, seconded by Commissioner Lee, to adjourn the
regular meeting of Thursday, February 7, 2008.

AYES: 6-0 (Del Portillo, Gomez, Harris, Kane, Lee and
Munson).

The regular meeting of February 7, 2008, of the San
Francisco Public Library Commission adjourned at 7:55 pm.

Please note:† Copies of commission minutes and handouts are
available in the office of the secretary of the San Francisco Public Library
Commission, 6th floor, Main Library, 100 Larkin Street, San
Francisco, CA† 94102-4733

Explanatory documents:† Copies of listed explanatory documents
are available as follows:† (1) from the commission secretary/custodian of
records, 6th floor, Main Library; (2) in the rear of Koret
Auditorium immediately prior to, and during, the meeting; and (3), to the
extent possible, on the Public Libraryís website http://sfpl.org.†
Additional materials not listed as explanatory documents on this agenda, if
any, that are distributed to library commissioners prior to or during the
meeting in connection with any agenda item will be available to the public for
inspection and copying in accordance with Government Code Section 54954.1 and
Sunshine Ordinance Sections 67.9, 67.28(b), and 67.28(d).